What we heard from Jayden Everett about Wisconsin football’s running back room
Jayden Everett wants a bell cow, more complete backs and a return to the standard that once defined Wisconsin’s running back room.
The University of Wisconsin football program enters fall camp with no shortage of options at running back. What first-year position coach Jayden Everett wants now is separation.
Wisconsin added Iowa State transfer Abu Sama, USC’s Bryan Jackson, TCU’s Nate Palmer and JUCO transfer Julius Pope to a room where Darrion Dupree is the lone returning scholarship back, giving the Badgers considerably more depth and a variety of skill sets to work with.
But Everett, who joined Luke Fickell’s staff this offseason after coaching running backs at Minnesota, isn’t necessarily looking to divide the workload evenly. He wants someone to become Wisconsin’s bell cow.
That was one of several things that stood out from Everett’s media availability during fall camp.
Wisconsin is searching for a bell cow
Jeff Grimes made his preference clear before fall camp began. In an ideal world, Wisconsin identifies a primary ball carrier and builds the rotation around him.
Everett sees the room similarly.
“You need a bell cow, and then you need a guy after that that has a change of pace,” Everett said. “There will be a guy that will get a bulk of the carries, and then there will be guys that earn the rest of the way.”
Sama appears to be the most obvious candidate after rushing for 732 yards and five touchdowns on 140 carries at Iowa State last season. Still, Wisconsin has enough viable options to make the competition meaningful.
Dupree flashed some explosive ability last season, appearing in 10 games with two starts while leading Wisconsin with 363 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 83 carries. The Mount Carmel High School product averaged 4.4 yards per attempt, highlighted by an 84-yard touchdown run against Illinois, and Everett praised his development as a tackle-to-tackle runner. Jackson, meanwhile, was singled out as perhaps the player who made the biggest jump between spring practice and fall camp.
Everett called Jackson “the heart of our room” and praised how rarely he makes mistakes with the football.
Then there’s Pope, a late addition who gives Wisconsin something different. A former four-star linebacker who began his career at Arkansas, Pope later landed at Northwest Mississippi Community College, where he transitioned to running back before arriving at Wisconsin this summer. He wasn’t around for spring practice and remains a work in progress technically, but his natural ability has already caught Everett’s attention.
“Juju’s a work in progress, Everett admitted, “but he’s doing a really, really good job. But his vision, he has natural vision. He feels things the way they need to feel in terms of just where the ball should hit. But there’s just certain things that you’ve got to coach him up on. Glad to have him.”
There are options. Now Wisconsin needs someone to separate himself.
Playing running back at Wisconsin requires more than carrying the football
Everett’s definition of a bell cow goes considerably further than rushing production.
He wants someone he can trust regardless of situation.
“Every-down back,” Everett said. “Someone I can put in any situation. Doesn’t matter what it is. Someone that understands down and distance. Someone who understands the moment.”
That’s why pass protection has become such an important part of fall camp.
Everett said Wisconsin’s recent blitz pickup work represented the best collective pass-protection day that he’s seen from the room, which matters because he has created individualized development plans for each running back based on what they need to improve.
The eventual goal is removing situational limitations altogether.
“I’d like to have everybody be every-down backs so they can stay in,” Everett said. “I don’t have to utilize this guy on this down, utilize this guy on this down, but everybody just be universal to be able to be in there.”
That applies to physicality, too. Everett hasn’t left much room for interpretation there.
“It’s not a choice,” Everett said. “You got to do it, or you’re not going to play.”
That’s particularly relevant for a Wisconsin offense attempting to restore its ability to control games on the ground after finishing 116th nationally in rushing offense last season. The importance is difficult to overstate: Wisconsin is 16-0 under Fickell when rushing for at least 150 yards and 1-21 when it fails to reach that mark.
Having several players who can carry the football creates depth. Having multiple backs Grimes can trust to run between the tackles, protect Colton Joseph and contribute in the passing game creates something far more valuable.
Everett wants to restore the standard that comes with playing running back at Wisconsin
Everett knew exactly what job he was accepting when he left Minnesota for Wisconsin.
He also understands the history attached to his position room.
“If I wasn’t confident about it going back to that, I wouldn’t have taken this job,” Everett said. “I know how big this season is for us. I know how big the running back position has been here.”
Everett has intentionally brought former Badgers back around the program, including Ron Dayne, Melvin Gordon and Brian Calhoun, hoping their presence helps the current room understand what playing running back at Wisconsin has traditionally meant.
For Everett, this isn’t about nostalgia as much as establishing expectations.
“What a great opportunity we have to resurrect an RBU-type room,” Everett said. “You’ve got to put your big boy pants on, your big shoes on when you come to the running back room in Wisconsin. They know what it’s about.”
That’s an ambitious standard for a room that still has plenty to prove.
Wisconsin hasn’t produced a 1,000-yard rusher since Braelon Allen in 2022, and the Badgers’ entire offense struggled to establish any consistent physical identity last season.
Everett isn’t running from those expectations.
His message through the opening portion of fall camp has been pretty straightforward: Wisconsin will find a primary runner, everyone else will have to earn their role, and carrying the football is only one part of becoming someone this staff trusts.
The depth appears to be there. Now Everett has to find out whether there’s a bell cow somewhere within it who can move the needle.
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